Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-02-10

of being morbid. This is sometimes ex-
cused in US by people who would be gentle
with us by some theory in regard to the
constitutional or functional charaoteris-
tics which We possess. But the fact is
that most women live lives Of great
physical hardship and fatigue. OF course,
We hear it argued every day that physi-
caily we are not equal to competing with
men, our power of endurance being SO
much slighter. We have grown quite
used to hearing this, and half of as &C.
cePt 1t as being SO, not remembering
tnst the average woman does twice as
much physical work as the average man.
! 90 nos mean necessarily in the way of
h1ting or IN certain departments where
great muscular strength is required; but
take, for instance, the mason, who works
TOT definite number of hours
oay ae a definite task. At q certain
nour he Is done; for the rest of the
TIME he can sit still-if he chooses, can
smoke at any rate, he is comparatively
speaking, gentleman of leisure. No
one questlons his not turning around to
WORK at something else. He is privileged
70 rest. HIS wife, on the other hand, is
al DAY on her feet and on hard wood
nOWn6Y6
OF doors equals any half hour which that
woman spends in tramping back and
forth over wooden floors. She sweeps
and washes and cooks, and stands by the
sink to wash dishes; she sews, nurses and
lifts her children. Her labors are never
done. Morning till night there is the
weary, unceasing tramping back and
forth. By night, from fostering cares
She is too tired even to think or to move.
Her husband may read his paper or dis
cues state questions, bat she is too tired
for all that. The work which she has
done differs from SO called exercise or
vigorous physical exertion. 1t seps both
the mind and body, and never stimulates
them. No reaction can follow. The
whole nature succumbs to a profound
WEAKNESS, and sort of unhealthy mem
tai condition ensues.
NOW maintain that no man or woman
whose physical powers are exhausted can
nave either of two things-a creative
mind, one that impels the individual to
activity, of to carve out, TO seize, to make
opportunities for itself; or, secondly, a
mind That is serene, contsnted or happy.
1t IS the same way with men whose bodies
ere worn out with dissipation. They are
subject to periods of despair. And go
into our farm houses and look at the
women-worn out, self repressed and sad.
If they are not bitter and sometimes re-
bellious, they are plaintive and oftener
than not they are stolid. But underlying
all these separate phases of their mind
there is in them all a basis made I'D of
despair.
All of this subject is one that I can
touch on but briefly. But there is another
1spect of it, that seems to me of still
more vital moment. When the question
arlses-so often asked-why have women
never yet carved out for themselves
greater opportunities, feel that the ans
wsr may be resd in the records of lives
wasted In petty exhausting cares that
raped their vitality and strength. Even
SO great man as Lincoln-a man to
whom we look with reverence and awe
even Lincoln succumbed to these condi-
lions. No woman ever had greater NOR
bid sensibilities. He rallied because his
nature had time to recuperate. WON
en- seldom have that time allotted to
Them.
Now, my reasoning may seem to many
oreposterous. But ask my readers what
ire the greatest essentials to progress
SAN "a 'AAAAoDAOA, VI AdbnCI Whdo Ire bWO
factors We always recognize in ity They
are always either the possession of slaves
DE- great machines. Labor, in other words
must be either delegated or accom- plish-
I'D with as little expenditure of personal
force as possible, the idea being that the
brain workers may be free. In Athens,
n the days of her greatest victory, the
poorest man deemed himself unfortunate
f he did not possess seven slaves. Each
citizen then could have leisure to concern
himself with the affairs Of the state.
Compare the literature of Athens with
hat of Sparta, where the citizens were
rained to physical hardship. What
lavery did for Athens machinery does
n better way for Us in the nineteenth
century.
l wish that space permitted my emit er-
ng more fully into this question. have,
however, done all / wish if / have been
bile to start one or two people thinking
n certain directions. The Importance of
he subject can hardly be exaggerated.
hink. An understanding of physical
avs as they control the mental ones in
10Th sexes would lead to better knowl-
'dge of women and the reason Of their
ailures. In this way it would help to
open the way for surrounding them with
better conditions and opportunities,
making it possible for them to develop
powers which have been until now warp-